The future of pizza and regenerative farming
The UK is in love with pizza and it’s now one of the most popular foods eaten in and out of the home.
It doesn’t take a culinary expert to work out why we love pizza. It’s delicious, versatile, easy to prepare and the perfect sharing food.
Pizza is a food mainly made from wheat, which is a widely grown crop across the world. However, the way a lot of wheat is grown has in recent years become very reliant on fertilisers, nitrogen and pesticides to maximise yields. This has come at a cost to both human health and the health of the planet because over time these additional inputs degrade the soil used to grow the crop. Poor soil health leads to poorer nutrition in the crop, loss of biodiversity and pollution of watercourses and rivers.
So is there a better way to produce food (especially pizza) that is healthier for us and the planet?
There is indeed. And it is called regenerative farming. And the good news for pizza lovers is that when farmed regeneratively, wheat can be a highly sustainable crop that is healthy and nutritious.
Regenerative farming is based on some key principles that focus on the health of the soil that the crops are grown in. The use of artificial fertilisers or pesticides is either eliminated or at the least, minimised in favour of other methods that over time regenerate the soil and strengthen the relationship between the sun, the crops and the soil. The outcome is that biodiversity in the soil increases, providing not only healthier crops, but increasing evidence also shows that food grown in regenerative ways contains much more nutrition.
Nutrient density means the amount of nutrient present in the food. Calorie counting is one way to think about food, but nutrient density also needs to be considered. If a food is twice as nutritious, then in theory half the calories can be taken on to get the same benefit. Therefore, eating food which is more nutrient dense is one factor in improving our health. In short, less calories, more nutrition!
Pizza is often made with highly refined flours, which contain so little nutrition that they are legally required to be fortified with additional vitamins in the UK. Wholegrain flour is much healthier but can make bread that is denser and so sometimes lacks the lightness and texture of white bread.
So can pizza be healthier, more sustainable and still taste incredible?
That’s the question we wrestled with at Homemade Pizza Club. And after much research into regenerative farming in the UK, we found the answer!
We are very proud to be partnering with the amazing team at Wildfarmed to produce a regeneratively farmed pizza dough that is not only healthier but highly sustainable and that makes incredible tasting pizzas.
Wildfarmed produce wheat produced by over 50 partner farms that supply them with a high quality regeneratively farmed crop. Using the principles of regenerative farming means that each farm produces to a stringent standard that prioritises soil health and reduces emissions enormously.
But the good news doesn’t stop there. By growing in better soil, the nutrient content of the wheat is improved. It's then milled using a traditional stone grinding process that retains much more natural goodness in the flour compared to a large-scale commercial milling process.
Because the wholegrain is used, this also means less wastage in the process. Better for you and better for the planet!
The resulting flour is of the highest quality and makes pizzas like you’ve never tried before.
We are very proud to be able to offer you pizza dough balls made with Wildfarmed flour that give you an easy way to make the pizza of the future.
Order yours here.
www.homemadepizzaclub.co.uk/collections
